City scientist lends helping hand to green drive

As one enters the residence of Dr MP Srivastava, a agricultural scientist in Sushant Lok 2, the smell of monstera (named after its monstrous look) will welcome you.

On the first-floor balcony, a range of plants adorn the façade of the house, which include ornamental plants such as asparagus, aglaonema, cycas and some medicinal plants like tulsi.

His love for these ‘green leaves’ is evident from the splendour of X-mas plant, which beautifies his living room.

But his love is not restricted to plants, he spreads awareness about health clinics of plants among experts across the world.

To serve the same purpose, he also runs a web portal called www.xsgrowth.com which aims to sensitise farmers, students and experts about plant clinics.

“My aim is to popularise the concept of plant clinics to make them a world-wide phenomenon. The way we have clinics to treat human beings and animals, we must have an adequate number of plant clinics too,” said Srivastava.

The plant loving scientist has helped a number of scientists set up plant clinics across India. “There are around 100 such clinics in the country but most of them are situated in universities or agricultural institutes,” he added.